Xiamen Airlines 757 Business Class Beijing Capital to Fuzhou Changle

published: 2017-02-25 22:48:16 This was a re-positioning flight for the inaugural flight from Fuzhou to New York. I was debating whether or not to post this but thought I would go ahead to talk about my journey and share some more observations about Xiamen Airlines and its service. Xiamen and Skyteam flies out of T2 in Beijing which isn’t anywhere near as spacious and nice as T3. T3 is so big that the gates are often not crowded and you get grand majestic views of the runway and aircraft. You can easily view an entire A380 from its wheel to the tip of tail unobstructed. T2 on the other hand is small, crowded, and the views are often obstructed. T3 at Beijing is probably one of my favorite terminals in the world for spotting aircraft. The biggest problem with flying out of Beijing is the high chance of delays due to ATC congestion. My flight was delayed by an hour due to problems with inbound congestion. However this translated to a 2 and half hour delay because of the outbound congestion at Beijing. I would arrive in my final destination at 12am. What made this delay even more horrendous was the fact I didn’t realize Fuzhou Changle airport is a 45 minute drive (50km/32miles) away from the city center. Tired and confused in a city I never been to before, I stupidly took the airport express bus, which normally is a good way to get to/from the airport. However, the Sheraton hotel was not on the way of the bus, and the driver dropped me off 3 kms away. It was nearly 2am at that time (due to the extra time of waiting at the airport for the bus to fill up). The Sheraton is located in a new commercial development district on the outskirts of the city which means it was completely deserted at night. As I walked through the deserted streets, I briefly pondered if I was actually crazy. It also felt like those zombie movies. There were all these tall buildings and lights but not a single person or car on the street. Finally I saw a sign for a hotel and knowing that there are always taxis waiting by hotels, I found a taxi that would take me to the Sheraton hotel. At check-in at the hotel, the staff told me they were wondering where I was the whole day. As they listened to my long journey from NYC, they shared their own experiences of being stuck at Beijing due to ATC congestion. By the time I showered and got into bed, it would be 3 AM and after sleeping for 2 hours, I headed out at 5AM for my 9AM return flight to New York, hoping I could arrive early enough to get a window seat. The only highlight of that crazy day was the young flight attendant, Ms. Zhang, I met on my flight. I was the only one in business class, and as soon I was in the cabin, she came over and greeted me by name. She saw my camera and encouraged me to take videos. She also laid out my slippers for me and offered to put my shoes in the shoe bag. Throughout the flight she would come by and constantly offer refills of coconut milk, water and tea for me. This is a simple basic service that sometimes I don’t experience on international business class. After she saw me finish my dinner, she offered me more of the delicious soup. When I told her about my trip to fly on Xiamen’s inaugural trip to NYC, she told me she hasn’t been on the 787 and hopes she can improve her English skills more so that she can fly on it. She did tell me about her trip abroad as a FA to India, which she really enjoyed. Because of our flight delays, she kept me informed of our arrival time and temperature throughout the flight. She gave me names of nearby airport hotels I can book. However without any internet and no phone service, I was out of luck, but it was really sweet of her to offer help and suggestions. The food on this flight continue to demonstrate the high bar set by Xiamen. While it looks simple, the taste of the seafood soup was savory and mildly salty, preserving the taste of the chunks of scallops and shrimp. The dim sum was also fresh. I actually had worse dim sum in restaurants so for Xiamen to provide the taste that it did is impressive. The fruits were fresh and ripe and dessert was a pineapple upside down cake with a berry core. Absolutely excellent catering on an old domestic business class.

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